I know you think you’re a good communicator but I’d bet you $100 that, when it comes to setting employee expectations, you aren’t as clear as you think you are. No matter how good you are -- you could be better. It’s not entirely your fault. You have several strikes against you. Agencies tend to attract very strong willed, opinionated people. They’re tough to manage. You probably grew up in the agency world and you miss being “one of the gang” so there’s a part of you that manages in a way that at least you’re a popular boss. You are wearing a lot of hats and since the employee issues are rarely on fire like the client ones are — it’s an easy bullet to dodge But here’s the problem. When people don’t know exactly what is expected of them… The great ones leave because they want to be part of a team that is very clear about where it’s going and they want to contribute somewhere Or — the great ones stay but over time, lose their drive and become mediocre The mediocre ones will never rise to the occasion and become great The crappy ones stay because you never ask too much of them How’s that for team building? Worst of all — you deal with it in a very passive aggressive way. You give vague directions and then you’re angry that they don’t behave in the way that you want. Or an employee steps out of your perception of how your employees should behave but you don’t give them the feedback. You just get angry about it. See if these sound familiar. “I handing him a book and said ‘it’s a [...]